Smartphone searches for meat and poultry experience boost

Research has shown that grocery searches on smartphones for meat and poultry have increased 43% year-on-year for the third quarter.

The data comes from the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Google’s retail monitoring survey for 2016.

Of the list of everything searched, meat and poultry comes out on top in terms of year-on-year comparison. BBQs and grills also saw a strong boost, with a 35% growth and fish and seafood increased 27%.

“There were no surprises that barbecues and meat and poultry were the most popular categories searched for on smartphones over the summer months, although Prosecco and coconut oil proved to be the most popular search terms,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of BRC.

“This quarter also underlined the rapid use of smartphones as the device of choice for online searching, being a popular choice for consumers searching for all things food and drink.”

While search terms on tablets were negative for every month of the quarter, posting their weakest figure in August, grocery search volumes across all devices grew by 11%.

“Again, we’re seeing a steady growth in the food and groceries category, driven by smartphone penetration,” said Martijn Bertisen, retail director at Google. “With almost everyone carrying a supercomputer in their pocket, we can see an even distribution of searches from mobile across the UK. This means the industry can tap into a more immediate and rich dataset of intention and adjust their mobile strategies to respond to an ever-connected consumer. Whether they are searching for trending holiday-inspired cuisines from Asia and Latin America or summer drinks like mojitos, consumers are expecting fast, mobile and personal results from the brands they love.”